At the present, there is an information processing device provided with a function known as Capacity on Demand (which will hereinafter be abbreviated to COD) in which a user utilizes a necessary quantity of hardware resources such as CPUs when a necessity arises.
For example, a method of providing the COD for controlling usage number of the CPUs is that at first, on the occasion of purchasing the information processing device mounted with a plurality of CPUs, a cost corresponding to the number of the CPUs used by a user is paid, and the information processing device is utilized by operating this number of CPUs. Namely, the information processing device is utilized in a status of inhibiting operations of the CPUs over this number of CPUs.
Then, if a throughput of the information processing device is required to be enhanced, the user acquires a license key by newly purchasing the right of using the CPUs and inputs this license key to the information processing device, thereby enabling the use of the CPUs that have not been used so far.
Through this process, the throughput can be quickly enhanced only by the input operation. Further, it may be sufficient that a necessary quantity of usage right is purchased when required, and hence an initial investment of the system can be restrained.
In the conventional information processing device, however, information indicating whether a CPU is a COD target or not is not held by the CPU itself but stored on a system board or stored in the information processing device itself. For example, the information indicating the use or non-use is stored on a per-slot-number basis of a slot for mounting the CPUs, and the use or non-use of the CPUs mounted in each slot is determined based on this information.
Therefore, such a problem arises that the non-use CPU, if demounted and then mounted in another information processing device, can be thus used without purchasing the license.
It should be noted that technologies disclosed in the following Patent documents are given by way of the prior arts related to the invention of the present application.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 09-146898
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-338229